Cause I'm Never Giving You Up
by breezyyy
Summary: MaxAlec: Max reflects on last Christmas, Alec plays the piano and sings Max to sleep. Fluff. Companion piece to Cause I'm Lovin You Forever.


CAUSE I'M NEVER GIVING YOU UP

Summary: Max/Alec. Max reflects on last Christmas. Alec plays the piano for her. Fluff.

Disclaimer: I don't own. Too sad, i know. Don't own the song either, the Dixie Chicks do.

AN: It's heeerrrreeee. The companion to CAUSE I'M LOVIN YOU FOREVER. Thanks again for all the reviews! And the italics are the flashbacks. Enjoy!

* * *

As night again fell, the stars sprinkled the midnight sky, Max had come home to an empty apartment; Alec's unique scent of leather, sweat, and a hint of something fruity wasn't as strong. 

It had been a couple of weeks since their pizza night, that being their last bit of quality time together. Since then, they've been a little busy .

Understatement of the millennium.

Running around the city, collecting supplies and fighting the remaining presence of the familiars stalking their city, **desperately** struggling to gain the trust of the norms and trying to make heads or tails of the runes sprouting like weeds across her body.

Considering the chaos of their lives, Max barely had anytime to spend with Alec, only catching glimpse of him as they ran their separated ways. Being the two leaders of a nation in crisis kept them more then busy, so the amount of time she's spent with him was the equivalent of her sleeping hours.

And it was staring to show.

Lying upon their ruffled bed, the entire place in shreds (neither could spare the time to clean up after themselves), Max was unable to find the sleep she desperately need to keep functioning at this speed.

She groaned, flopping around on the bed like a fish out of water. A frustrated sigh parted from her lips as she turned, once again starring at the cracked ceiling.

Just before she reduced herself to singing 100 bottles of beer on the wall, she heard the noise of someone pressing the keys to Alec's piano. But she never heard the door open or footfalls, so who the hell was here at this hour?

The previous Christmas Eve, Joshua came to Max, bellowing he had an idea for Alec's present since in the weeks prior to this day neither could think of anything to get him. And with the help of Mole and Dix they'd managed to hull the thing from Joshua's old place/Logan's current place (of course laying in wait for Logan to leave) and forced it up the many floors to Alec's apartment.

_"Holy crap! This things heavy!" Max sighed, leaning heavily on the black piano as she whipped the sweat from her brow. _

_As Dix and a grumbling Mole left, Joshua covered it with a huge painted tarp, looking as much as an oversize present. _

_Later, passing everyone in Head Quarters and receiving many "Merry Christmas Max" she ran face first into Alec's solid chest. Looking down at her, he smirked but didn't comment for once. _

_'A Christmas miracle,' she silently noted. _

_Max watched as he pulled a small square box from behind his back, pushing it into her opened hands, she saw how the gold freckles in his green eyes danced as a child's eyes do on this very Christmas Eve._

_Inside the glittering pink cube she found to her amazement a silver dove necklace. _

_'Oh God, it's beautiful!' 'Say something you idiot!' she thought._

_Smiling she gushed, "It's beautiful Alec. Thank you!"_

_Her gaze once again captured by the shinning gift, she missed how Alec's face lit up at her happiness._

_He tentatively reached to take it from her, "Here let me."_

_She obliged, turning around so her back faced him as he brought the necklace over head and around her neck, and with one hand, lifted her long hair so he could clasp it shut. Her blood raced as she felt his soft but strong hands and his breath tickling the cape of her neck. _

_'Oh GOD, NO! This is Alec were talking about! You can't have feelings for **him**. It's got to be . . . um . . . heat." She tried to convince herself, but she knew it wasn't true, she hadn't had a cycle since her recapture. _

_Piano._

_Joshua._

_She turned around and remembered how Josh was waiting at Alec's for Max to bring him there so together they could surprise him. _

_'Duh!'_

_Without and explanation, she took his hand in hers and dragged him out of HQ, down the street, toward his place. _

_"I know you liked the present, Maxie, but I didn't think you liked it this much!" He laughed, trying to hide that secret bit of nervousness and confusion that crept into his voice. _

_"Only in your dreams, pretty boy, but no matter how much you wish to Santa, you haven't been that good of a boy this year."_

_Still puzzled, he had no choice but to follow, up and up and up the stairs till finally reaching his door. _

_"But Max, what's - -"_

_"Shut it. Just wait and stop your constant talking."_

_She flung open the door revealing a grinning, jittery Joshua and a huge painted blob in the opposite corner of the room._

_"Open it!" Josh said, jumping around in anticipation. _

_Pulling off the sheet, Alec starred at the piano. _

_"Merry Christmas middle fella!"Joshua barked. _

_Alec's heart ached at the sight. _

_Rachel._

_But it filled again as he thought of **her**. _

_Max. _

_Max standing in the doorway. trying her best to gouge his reaction, but as always, nothing ever leaked from that Manitcore made mask. She opted to wait for his reaction instead, and he didn't disappoint. _

_Letting his grin over take his face as he turned around, but was immediately trapped in a hug by the dog man. _

_"Thanks a lot Josh!" he whispered into the transhuman's ear. _

_Released from his prison of doggy arms Joshua smirked at both Max and Alec. _

_"Joshua gotta blaze, gonna play with his present." Referring to the new paints, canvases, and brushes that Max and Alec had spent all week scouring the city of Seattle for._

_"Merry Christmas!!!" he shouted to his two best friends, and he was gone._

_And it was. _

_Christmas that is. _

_Somewhere in between Max receiving her present and giving Alec's his, it had turned from Eve to the day of. _

_Left alone, Alec turned toward Max, who was now poised on the lumpy couch, an amber bottle in hand. Grabbing the one she'd left for him on the collapsing coffee table, he flopped down besides her, the smile still present. _

_"Thank you Max."_

_"No biggy Alec. It was all big fella's idea."_

_"Yeah, figured. But still."_

_"So it's . . . alright?"_

_"Yeah, it's really great! Really."_

_"Okay, cuz I was . . . kinda . . . worried it might of reminded you of, you know, **her**." _

_It was silent for a couple seconds._

_"It did, but now . . . . . it just reminds me something else. "_

_'More like someone else.' he thought._

_How Max was there for him those ruff couple of days, how she didn't back down,( even though she thought he was going to kill Berrisford and she planned to stop him), but still. She was still there, even afterward, offering to help him through it, to talk. Max, her forgiving self, willing to help him even after all the trouble he caused in her life. _

_Her eye brows rose, "Yeah."_

_"Yup."_

_Silence. _

_Not an awkward one, but of two friends sipping beer and enjoying each other's company on this Christmas mourning. _

_"So do you get the whole dove thing?" he asked._

_"What?"_

_"The dove. Your necklace."_

_"Umm . . . no." It was gorgeous but she never considered it had a deeper meaning. _

_"Well . . . uhh . . . it's from Joshua's flag, 'member?"_

_"Yeah, so?" Now she was confused, she got it was the same dove and all but so what? What did it have to do with her?_

_"The dove. Hope. You're our hope Max. We couldn't of gone this far without you. Hell, I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you." _

_He wasn't just referring to the ticking time bomb in his head, or escaping Manitcore, but how she had guided him, shown him how to be a human, and not the assassin he'd been for his whole life. _

_"That's not true, you'd guys would of managed without me here."_

_"Come off it Max. We all know you've kept us together, and we'd never would of gotten this far if it wasn't for you and you know it."_

_Pause._

_Pause._

_"Thanks Alec." _

_Her thanks wasn't just for the gift, but also for his reassurance that she was needed around here and she wasn't a dead weight '09-er that got in the way with her peaceful approaches. _

_"Come one Alec. Test out your present. Play me something."_

_He did. _

_A sound that needed not words for the notes were words enough. _

_It was so beautiful. _

_So stunning._

_His broad hands flying over the white keys, gracefully, never missing a beat. _

_Leaning her head upon his shoulder, feeling how his shoulder shook with the speed of his hands and arms. _

_She closed her eyes and let the music flow through her as he played well into the morning. _

--

Stepping cautiously forward, into the main room, her body relaxed as she caught his scent before she even saw who was standing besides the piano.

"Sorry, Maxie, didn't mean to wake you."

"No, no, I couldn't sleep." she whined.

Kicking his shoes and socks off by the couch, and dumping his jacket on the table, he grabbed her, planting a quick kiss on her pouting lips, he dragged her back toward the bedroom.

"Try." he whispered as he pulled her down besides him on their bed.

"But . . ."

"Shh . . . " he hushed her as he held her close.

Pause.

"Alec?"

"Hummm?"

The pull of sleep almost catching him as he too got the same amount of sleep as Max.

"Could you . . . sing for me?" she whispered.

All the times she'd watched and listened to him play, he'd never sing. But she knew for a fact it wasn't because he couldn't. Oh, she knew he could sing. Really well too. And she only knew this for the fact the one time she came home early one night, she heard him singing while lathering up in the shower.

Yup.

Alec was a shower singer.

Stuttering to reply, he realized this was more then likely his best bet to get Max to sleep. And sleep she desperately needed.

His response a grumbled "fine", she sighed, burying her head into his chest.

Her own built in pillow.

Snuggled together on the chilly night of April 7th, when the world was dark and everything quite and deathly still, Alec thought of what to sing.

Songs and their lyrics flickered through his head as he sought the perfect song to sing to her. Finally deciding on the best one, he took a deep breath to steady himself and sang,

"How long do you want to be loved?  
Is forever enough, is forever enough?  
Cause I'm never, never giving you up.

They didn't have you were I come from,  
Never knew the best was yet to come,  
Life began when I saw your face.  
And I hear your laugh like a serenade.

I slip in bed while you're alseep  
To hold you close and feel your breath on me.  
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do  
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you.

As you wander through this troubled world  
In search of all things beautiful  
You close your eyes and you're miles away.

How long do you want to be loved?  
Is forever enough, is forever enough?  
Cause I'm never, never giving you up."

When the last phrase left his lips, he noted her change of breathing, how that and her heart beat slowed as her body rejuvenated itself for more hard ships and daunting tasks to overcome.

As he too succumbed to the darkness and peace of sleep, Alec's green eyes fluttered shut, he whispered into the night, "Cause I'm never giving you up."

And his only reply was the sound of two gentle purring of the slumbering X-5's.

* * *

An: Thanks again for reading and if (when) you find any spelling/grammar mistakes could you please tell me. Sorry it was a little late, my weekend was hectic. More one shots coming up within the next two weeks, can't pin point an exact date, but at least a week from now. So keep a look out, i have several ideas in my head and half way down on paper if any are interested. 

Thanks again!

--Brianne


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